The German page with the shieldwall rule explicitely says "if several taflstones with the same colour stand side by side on the edge of the taflboard and one opposing taflman is placed in front of each of them, it is possible to capture the complete row at once by flanking the opposing taflstones. In contrast to the so far explained kinds of capturing the refuges do NOT count as substitute taflstones in this case."

But perhaps it would be more logical if forbidden squares do participate in shieldwall capture as they do in other captures, and perhaps better for the game, giving further tactical opportunities?

Last edited by Hagbard on Tue Mar 17, 2015 7:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hagbard wrote:The past two years 1800 tafl games were played on this site. Counting the draws in the exposed variants gives 42 draws:
22 center forts
7 edge forts
1 corner fort
9 perpetual checks
2 cases of too few pieces left on both sides
1 case of white not able to move

I wonder how many of these draws were in tournament games in the exposed variants, as draws were never really considered a problem until we had tournament situations. So is it a bit misleading to think of it as 42 draws from the exposed variants out of 1800 total games? Could we hear the figure for draws as a percentage of tournament games in the exposed variants?

Adam wrote:Could we hear the figure for draws as a percentage of tournament games in the exposed variants?

There were 15 draws in 246 tournament games in the exposed variants. So, while the overall draw percentage is 2 %, the tournament draw percentage is 6 %. The minimum-kill rule could be made a tournament rule only?

Seems like that. Question is if rules forbidding draws should be included? Since there were not many draws, perhaps this is not a problem, but I have the feeling that people simply did not go for a draw even if they had the chance, instead mostly playing as if draws were not possible. The rules as they stand are susceptible to draw forts and infinite raichi. And the rules are definitely playable without draws. (I know I am starting to repeat myself, but I am simply not fond of draws! )